While stationed at Ashiya AB, Japan, 1956 - 1959, I took several of the base
Special Services trips around Japan, mostly by train to sight-see many
different things. One of them was the pen feeding operation in Kobe, Japan,
where the famous steaks originated. The pens were extremely small, one
animal per pen, and the cattle were fed a ground up mixture of many
different types of food. Once the animal grew to a certain size, it was
placed in a sling so that it's feet barely touched the ground and it was
force fed several times a day and massaged with Sake and/or beer. The object
of the alcoholic rubdowns was to calm the frustrated animal, which was
highly stressed after being placed in the sling. When it came time for
slaughter they injected Papaya juice into the animals veins so that it would
go throughout the entire animal and help in softening and marinating the
flesh. The Japanese didn't have the space nor facilities to breed and raise
beef in that country, so most of the cattle came from Australia, New
Zealand, and the U.S., when they were very young. I never had a steak
anywhere near as good as an original Kobe steak.
Al Brashear:
It is my understanding, from roaming the Orient since 1960, and listening to
the locals, that Kobe beef refers to the city/area in which the process was
started long ago, and to the way the cattle are treated. The cattle are
imported from lots of places, Washington State for one.
The cattle are not allowed to move around too much, fattened up on whatever
the Japanese feed them, and supposedly massaged frequently with, of all
things, beer.
Never saw the process. Never cared to since I enjoyed the Kobe style of
steaks.
Bill Shelton
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Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@frontiernet.net >
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